Total non-farm payroll employment fell by 51,400 in April, down 0.4 per cent from March, Statistics Canada said yesterday.

OTTAWA–Total non-farm payroll employment fell by 51,400 in April, down 0.4 per cent from March, Statistics Canada said yesterday.

The agency said the number of employees has fallen every month since the figure peaked in October 2008, bringing total losses over the period to 376,500.

There were job losses in 64 per cent – or 195 of 305 – industries, unchanged from a month before.

The agency said the highest number of industries cutting payroll employment during the current economic downturn took place in January, when 229, or 75 per cent, shed jobs.

StatsCan reported most of April's job decline came in the service sector, particularly in universities, food and beverage services and truck transportation – the first month since the start of the decline in which service-sector job losses outpaced those in the goods sector. April losses in the goods sector came mainly in support activities for mining, oil-and-gas extraction and specialty trade contractors, while manufacturing had its smallest job decline since the start of the recent economic downturn.

The provinces with the largest declines in non-farm payroll employment in April were Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia and Manitoba. Employment in the other provinces was little changed in the month.

Average weekly earnings, including overtime, of payroll employees was $820.53 in April, up 1.4 per cent from a year earlier.

Meanwhile, the number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week, and the total number receiving payments increased, indicating the labour market may take longer to stabilize.

Initial jobless claims rose by 15,000 to 627,000 in the week ended June 20, from a revised 612,000 the week before, the U.S. labour department said yesterday.

The number of people collecting unemployment insurance increased by 29,000 in the prior week, to 6.74 million.

Recent economic data show some areas of the economy, such as housing and manufacturing, are seeing a smaller pace of decline, and the Federal Reserve said Wednesday after a two-day meeting in Washington that the economy's slump is "slowing." Even so, companies have been loath to hire new employees, in part because they are waiting for demand to rise.

Yesterday's report is "just a reminder that the labour market is still in serious trouble and the unemployment rate will continue to increase into 2010," said Ryan Sweet, an economist at Moody's Economy.com.

While the trend in recent weeks shows a slower pace of claims, "hopes for a quick rebound in the labour market are overly optimistic."

A separate government report showed U.S. gross domestic product shrank at a 5.5 per cent annual pace in the first quarter, less than the 5.7 per cent pace previously estimated. The change was spurred by a smaller trade deficit.

From the Star's wire services

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